Sergio Perez was once again lamenting a difficult day in qualifying, which will leave him starting from 15th place on the grid for tomorrow's British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Its the fifth straight race in a row that the Red Bull driver will have to start from outside the top ten - while his team mate Max Verstappen has been on poole position each time. It's not a flattering comparison.
Perez seems to have a particular problem when the weather is wet and changeable, as it was again today, matching the conditions in Canada which also turned out poorly for the Mexican.
"We struggled with the weather. The changing conditions made things a lot trickier, so we ended up having a poor qualifying," Perez admitted. “I think these conditions is where I struggle most with the car.
"My issues with the car become more apparent in the changeable conditions," he added. "It’s something that as a group we need to get on top of and understand what to do better."
There were more setbacks in Monaco, Spain and Austria, resulting in the remarkable statistic that Haas' Nico Hulkenberg has been more successful making it into Q3 so far this season than Perez in the best-of-class RB19.
“It’s just a shame to lose out because we had a great Friday, the race pace was looking really good," Perez said, suggesting that the timing and duration of the red flag for Kevin Magnussen's break down had been a big factor.
“I think the red flag lasted longer than we predicted initially and that didn’t help with the tyre temperature,” he said. "We lost some heat on the tyres and couldn’t get enough temperature back into them."
It's led to predictions that Perez' time at the team, and in Formula 1, might soon be up - and sooner than expected.
“He just doesn’t seem to perform when it really matters, and up against Max as a team-mate is so tough regardless, W Series Champion Jamie Chadwick told Channel 4’s F1 coverage. "Maybe it’s heading towards the end for Perez.”
"One of the things I’ve noticed in Checo recently is he’s reached for a few excuses," she added. “It’s very easy to do that as a driver – you’re always going to look for the reason why you’re not quick – but some accountability is important."
At least Perez isn't lacking in experience of mounting fightbacks on race day. Last week in Austria he started from 15th but managed to successfully finish on the podium.
"I think starting from the back is going to be another race where we try to minimise the damage," he acknowledged, facing the same challenge again this week.
"We had a good session yesterday so, for now, we need to look forward to tomorrow and just aim to get any many points as possible. It’s going to be difficult to come through the field but we will try our very best.”
"Another tough quali for Checo," commented Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. "But remaining confident for a good run tomorrow with plenty to race for.
"The weather was about as British as it gets - raining while sunny. This complicated things for us slightly," he continued.
"It looks like the race will be dryer so we won’t have to flip flop between inters and slicks as we have done today. But the change in conditions means we won’t be able to take a lot of the data from practice with us."
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